Philosophical Review

Der Begriff des Attributes bei Spinoza, in Seiner Entwickelung und seinen Beziehungen zuden Begriffen der Substanz und des Modus by Erich BecherReview by: H. W. WrightThe Philosophical Review, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Mar., 1906), pp. 220-221Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2177747 .

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220 THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW [VOL. XV.

schen," and he announces in his preface that " die Methode, die wir bei solcher Forschung einzuschlagen haben, ist zunachst die der physiologischen Psychologie; unsere Untersuchung erstreckt sich aber auch auf das patho- logische Gebiet und benutzt die Ergebnisse normaler Erscheinungen, die beim Studium der Lebensfunktionen des Menschen dieselben Dienste leisten, wie die Vivisektion bei der Betrachtung seiner Organe."

It is peculiarly difficult to give in a few words the contents of the book. The work is most orderly but highly unsystematic, and its psychology stands much nearer the popular than the scientific type. The main subdivisions are as follows: I, Mental Expression and its Disorders; II, The Mental Life Itself (Das innere Geistesleben); III, Memory; IV, Natural and Arti- ficial Disorders of the Idea; and V, Natural and Artificial Sleep (Hypnosis). The title of the book seems, to the present reviewer, to be both unfortunate and misleading. The book is a collection of essays whose dominant in- terest centers in music, - its production, its technique, its appreciation, its masters, its anomalies, its psychology, etc.; but it is not, as its name indi- cates, a monograph on the ' idea.' The first third of the book, e. g., is only incidentally concerned with the 'idea'; it deals, instead, with various forms of motor expression ( speech, song, writing, gesture, etc.) and their derangements, with special and frequent emphasis laid on 'musical' dis- orders and defects. Another long section (pp. 149-192) is occupied with 'secondary sensations' (for which the author offers a crude vaso-motor theory); a section which is, again, only remotely or incidentally connected either with the ' idea' (a term, by the way, which is nowhere properly de- fined) or with aesthetics. A similar criticism might be passed upon the part devoted to dreams and hypnosis (pp. 258-309). On the other hand, the book is full of interesting ' cases' and instances and illustrations and musi- cal lore and well-classified bits of information, which will make it useful for reference on a variety of special topics. It contains, besides, a good account of the relation of ' musical' to ideational types (pp. 1 17-149).

I. M. BENTLEY. CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

Der Begriffdes Attributes bei Sjhinoza, in seiner En/wickelung und seinen Beziehungen zu den Begrzften der Substanz und des Modus. Von ERICH BECHER. Halle, Max Niemeyer, i905. -pp. 6i.

In this essay an attempt is made to throw light on Spinoza's doctrine of attributes by a study of the origin and development of this concept in his thought. Reference is first made to the influence on him of several historic systems, Judaistic theology, Scholasticism, and Cartesianism. Secondly, his writings are examined with especial reference to the doctrine of sub- stance and attribute. The author reaches the conclusion that Spinoza, in the development of his views on this subject, passes through a series of positions from dualism to monism. But even in the Ethics he does not steadfastly adhere to the monistic view. Rather he relapses frequently into the Cartesian dualism, or even into a corresponding pluralism, in

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No. 2.] NOTICES OF NE W BOOKS. 221

which the single attributes are said to exist in and for themselves. The author makes no attempt to remove the contradiction which he thus finds in the Spinozistic philosophy. He regards it as an essential feature in Spinoza's thought, and hence not to be explained away. He believes, however, that he renders superfluous a theory like that of K. Thomas (,Sj~ioza a/s Metajihysiker, I 840; Sjiinoza's Individualismus und Pan/heis- mus, i848), which attributes to Spinoza a deliberate falsification of his own views. Thomas held that the philosopher, in order to avoid danger and to make his system popularly acceptable, concealed his pluralistic pantheism under a monistic pantheism. Dr. Becher regards such an hypothesis as, on its face, highly improbable, because a monistic pantheism was liable to arouse as much hostility at that time as a pluralistic one. The fate of Giordano Bruno is witness of this fact. Moreover, he believes that he finds a satisfactory explanation of the existing contradiction in the origin and development of Spinoza's own views. H. W. WRIGHT.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

The following books also have been received:

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress. BY GEORGE SAN-

TAYANA. Vol. V. Reason in Science. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, i906. -pp. ix, 320. $I.25.

Congress of Arts and Science, Universal Exposition, St. Louis, 1904,

Edited by HOWARD J. ROGERS. Vol. I. Boston and New York, Houghton, Miffin & Co., I905. -PP. ix, 627. $2.50.

The Philosoj5hy of Religion: A Critical and Sjieculative Treatise of Man's Religious Expierience and Develojpment in the Light of Modern Science and Reflective Thinking. By GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD. 2 Vols. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, I905. -PP. xx, 6i6; Xii, 590.

Life and Matter: A Criticism of Professor Haeckel's "I Riddle of the Uni- verse." By Sir OLIVER LODGE. New York and London, G. P. Put- nam's Sons, I905. -pp. ix, I75.

Comparative Religions: Its Genesis and Growth. By Louis HENRY JOR- DAN. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, I905. - PP. xix, 668. $3. 50.

The Testimony of St. Paul to Christ, Viewed in Some of Its Asjiects. By R. J. KNOWLING. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, I905. -pp. viii,

533. $3.00. Science and Hypothesis. By H. POINCARE. Authorized translation by

GEORGE BRUCE HALSTED. New York, The Science Press, I905. - PP. xxxi, i96.

Der Wahrheitsgehalt der Rezigion. Von RUDOLF EUCKEN. Zweite um- gearbeitete Auflage. Leipzig, Veit & Comp., I905. -pp. xii, 452. M.

9.00.

PsychologiscAhe Studien. Von THEODOR Lipps. Zweite, umgearbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Leipzig, Verlag der Dfirr' schen Buchhandlung, I905. -pp. 287. M. 5.00.

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